Seven hurt in Manus asylum-seeker clash

SEVEN people, including a staff member, were injured in a Christmas Eve scuffle between asylum seekers at the Australian immigration detention centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has confirmed that the seven sustained minor injuries in the clash between Tamil and Iranian asylum seekers.

It is believed the incident happened in the internet room when the Iranian detainees tried to recruit the Tamil detainees to protest, and the Tamils refused to take part.

A staff member for G4S, the company that runs the centre for the Australian government, was among those injured. All were treated on site.

PNG police spoke to witnesses but have not taken any action. Inquiries are continuing.

The minister's spokesman said about 20 Iranian detainees staged a sit-in in the internet room after the scuffle.

About 130 people are being held on Manus Island, including women and about 30 children.

News of the incident came as lawyers and human rights advocates criticised proposals before Parliament that would extend offshore processing to any asylum seeker who reached the Australian mainland by boat. Currently, asylum seekers who reach the mainland by boat cannot be sent to Nauru or PNG for processing, unlike those who reach outlying islands.

The change was one of the recommendations of an expert panel chaired by former defence chief Angus Houston, refugee advocate Paris Aristotle and foreign policy expert Michael L'Estrange.

In its submission to a Senate inquiry into the bill, the Australian Human Rights Commission said the proposal risked breaching many rights and obligations, including the right to freedom from arbitrary detention, the right to humane treatment, and the obligation not to penalise asylum seekers for arriving without authorisation.

The Law Council of Australia said in a submission the proposal was ''inconsistent with the spirit and purpose'' of the Refugee Convention to which Australia is a party, and undermined Australia's obligations under other human rights conventions. It said the bill should not be passed because it would extend to another group of asylum seekers arrangements to transfer asylum seekers to countries that did not adhere to human rights and rule-of-law principles.

The Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre said the proposal to effectively excise the Australian continent from the migration zone was ''unnecessary, perpetuates a legal fiction which continues to represent no more than an irresponsible avoidance of international obligations to which Australia has committed, and will likely cause damage to those people we have committed to protect''.

It said the bill perpetuated discriminatory treatment of refugees who arrived by boat, compared with those who came by air, with or without authorisation. People had a right to seek protection from persecution, regardless of their manner of arrival, the centre said.

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